Shareholders' rights and interests often take a back seat in Hong Kong. And so it proved to be again when state-owned oil giant Sinopec shocked the market by offering to sell HK$24 billion worth of new shares to a handful of privileged investors at a steep discount.

Shares of mainland airlines soared in Hong Kong yesterday after the central government issued a circular aimed at boosting the aviation industry, predicting a tripling of the mainland's air transport volume by 2020.

Hunan Nonferrous Metals, the mainland's largest producer of non-ferrous metals excluding aluminium, warned it would post a net loss for the first half as a result of lower product prices and high production and financial costs.

Losses at European airlines will hit US$1.1 billion this year - almost double the US$600 million estimate made just three months ago, as the euro-zone crisis continues to worsen, the International Air Traffic Association (IATA) has warned.

Airbus is ratcheting up pressure on European Union policymakers to resolve rising international tensions over the controversial emissions trading scheme after claims that US$12 billion worth of contracts have been withheld by Beijing.

Beijing will launch trade sanctions and prohibit mainland carriers from joining the European Union's emissions trading scheme, which came into effect on Sunday. It says the EU's move to include global airlines in the scheme is illegal.

China Postal Airlines, the express courier division of China Post, has confirmed plans for an almost sixfold increase in its air-freighter fleet as it targets expansion of domestic and international operations.